Cube Continued
by Sket
Summary: My version of the ending. Features Leaven, Worth, and four characters of my own making. Probably very OOC. The Genre is just what the movie was...
1. Chapter 1: Alive

**Author's Note: Hi, thanks for reading-well that should be at the end shouldn't it? Anyway, this is my first fan fiction. It's for Cube. I read all the Cube fan fics and there was only like two that wasn't Worth's thoughts at the end, not that there's anything wrong with those of course, I like them. So, this is **_**my**_ **version of the ending, in which Leaven and Worth didn't die from their wounds. Please forgive me if its extremely OOC or stupid/ridicules/slow/unorthodox in any of the ways it is sure to be. Oh also, please forgive me if the chapters are too short. I have no idea how long to make them, I just decided on a whim to make it near 1,000 words so…hope that's long enough. Please review!**

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Falling to the ground, Worth lunging at Quentin, and suffocating pain. These were the last memories I had before the blackness swallowed me. Now they relentlessly played in my mind, over and over and over again. I floated in nothingness, thinking about everything. I wondered absently if I was dead. I thought not, and that I would be when the invisible blanket slowly pressing down on me finally engulfed me. I waited, curious as to what would happen, which religion was right. I began wondering how much time was passing, so I began counting. Seven hundred and forty-six minutes later, I heard a voice. It seemed far away and blurry, it sounded like it was saying 'Leaven'. _Leaven…what a funny word. No, no that's not a word. It must be a name. Hmm…come to think of it, that's my name, isn't it? Yes, someone is calling me. How bothersome, I'll have to leave._ That scared me, my thoughts made me realize I was about to let myself die.

I reached frantically for the voice, pushing against the black around me. I felt it lift away, and then a wave of pain washed over me. I knew I was back, and I used that small bit of good to endure and keep from receding back into the nothingness that seemed so welcoming now. Every inch of my body was flaming with pain. I couldn't fight it, it filled my lungs and my eyes and my mind, blocking out my thoughts. Something warm and wet gently pushed against my burning lips. "Eat it." A voice whispered. The warm thing pushed harder against my lips, parting them. It dropped into my mouth, my mouth filling with its juice. Something covered my mouth and nose, forcing my body to swallow. The process repeated as my mind receded into unconsciousness.

"Uhhhhn…" My eyes slowly opened, and I saw a red-and-black wall. I stared at it blankly, and then my memory slowly came back. I inhaled sharply as they did, and immediately regretted it. My chest lit up with all-too-familiar pain as my lungs expanded, stopping my breathe short. The flames slowly receded from the blinding force they were to a dull throbbing. I noted that any miniscule movement I made sent my chest into immense agony. I clenched my teeth and held my breath, then slowly sat up. The pain washed over me, stronger than ever before. My body went limp and fell into the wall behind me, I was grateful it was there to catch me and keep me from having to do this again. I didn't know it was possible but the waves became stronger, growing stronger still with each ragged breath. It blinded me and sent me into oblivion.

--

David Worth sat on the outside of the door to the bridge, leaning against it. At first he was going to sit with Leaven and wait to see if she ever woke up, but then he remembered he didn't know how many rotations it would be until they came back to the exit. So instead he waited on the outside of the room. The brunette sat with his eyes closed, thinking. There wasn't much to do besides think in the cube. He went over what had happened when they were so close to freedom. Leaven, she'd tried to convince him to leave with her and Kazan. Funny, the last thing she said before Quentin shoved the door handle through her chest was "I can live with that.". After the room started moving again Quentin was ripped apart, judging by the screams he heard the remaining pieces of Quentin had plummeted to the bottom of the shell.

It came as a shock to him to wake up, Worth had thought he was dead. He examined the hole in his gut and realized it wasn't that deep. He wasn't as lucky as he'd thought. David crawled over to the girl who'd died because of him. He sighed in relief when he realized she'd only been extremely wounded because of him. He went about the business of treating himself and her. Well, treating wasn't really the right word. All he'd done was taken off his shirt and ripped it into thin strips, then wrapped the makeshift bandages around his stomach wound. The one ounce of decency he retained from his childhood was his respect for women, which his mother had thoroughly nailed into him. That prevented him from taking off Leaven's shirt and doing all he could to help her, instead he just wrapped the second half of the bandages over her shirt around her wound. But they needed something to eat…

"Uhhhhn…" A weak moan jerked him out of his thoughts. Worth opened the door and climbed into the room. He looked over to Leaven, and saw her eyes were open. A moment later they closed tightly. She started to sit up. He walked over to her to help, but she sat up quickly. The girl sagged against the wall. David crouched beside her.

"Leaven?" He called. "Leaven, can you hear me?" His eyes widened and his hand flew to her neck. At first he was relieved to find a pulse, then he was alarmed at how fast it was going. It gradually slowed, and stopped a bit below a normal rate. He guessed it was because she was unconscious. "Maybe she blacked out from pain. A hole through your chest would do that." He decided to follow her example. Worth went to the opposite corner and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Moving On

**Author's Note: Yay second chapter! Same stuff as before, sorry for stupidity and length and OOCness and such. You could review to tell me what to fix *hint hint***

Distant screams brought Leaven back to reality. She looked across the room and saw Worth, who was waking up himself. He sat up, yawning. Then there eyes met and he rushed over to her.

"Leaven, you're awake! Are you okay?" David asked her anxiously, surprising her with the caring in his voice.

"I've been better." She muttered, then noticed he was shirtless. "Where's your…?"

"Shirt? I had to stop the bleeding with something." He explained. Her eyes drifted to his stomach, seeing the makeshift bandages. She looked at herself as well, seeing he'd treated her as well.

"Oh…thanks." She said quietly.

"Now then," He said, and she looked back to him. "are you an idiot!?"

"H-Huh?"

"You could've been free! Instead you tried to help _me_ of all people, and look at what that got you."

"What do you mean 'you of all people'? There's nothing wrong with you!" She shouted angrily, then her face contorted in pain and fell over with her hands gripping her chest. He sighed.

"I wish you'd stop hurting yourself over me." He said under his breathe. The brunette heard a far-off voice, someone shouting 'oh god!'. His eyes widened as he realized there were others in the cube. He looked back to Leaven, she was more relaxed now, her eyes were closed and she was breathing slowly through her mouth. "Leaven." David said, and she looked at him. "We need to decide if we're going to stay here or go find the other people in the cube.

"O-other people?" She questioned.

"Yeah, I guess they thought we were all dead and started a second group. Or maybe they were there the whole time and we just never met. It doesn't really matter."

"We should find them."

"But how will we get out then?" Her face brightened at his response.

"So you _are_ going to get out of here next time?" Worth sighed.

"It doesn't look like I have much of a choice. My team mate is a stubborn fool who doesn't know what's good for her. Lets get going." His arms wrapped around Leaven.

"What are you doing?" She asked, shocked. He stood with her in his arms.

"Well you don't expect to walk around in that condition, do you?" His voice was light, but his face became a grimace of pain.

"Oh, your stomach! Let me down, I'm hurting you!" His knees buckled, and he rather unwillingly let her down.

"Well, I guess we won't be off to the rescue just yet. Give me a few minutes, and we're going again." He sat down beside her and let his head lean back against the wall. Leaven looked around the room, and her eyes rested on Quentin's leg laying in the corner. Many chunks of it were missing. Her hands clasped her mouth and her eyes widened in shock. Worth followed her trail of vision and saw what she was looking at. He sighed, knowing this was coming.

"Leaven-"

"Oh god!" Her eyes clamped shut and she shook her head violently. "_That's _what-ugh!" She hid her face between her knees and wrapped her arms around them.

"Leaven…?" She didn't move. "C'mon now Leaven, people have to eat."

"People have to eat?" She replied, not moving from her position. "People don't _eat_ other people, Worth! People-" Her voice had been steadily rising then broke off. David stared at her, wondering if she had passed out, when her shoulders started shaking and he realized she was crying.

"Leaven," He started, reaching to put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." She warned in a low voice.

"C'mon now…" He pleaded, but got no response. He searched his mind for something to say. "Look…" He scratched the back of his head "Quentin…he wasn't a person anyway. He was an animal. And people eat animals all the time, don't they?" He waited. "Don't they?"

"Yes." She muttered reluctantly. "But he looked pretty human to me."

"Don't say that. He attacked people, he wanted to get rid of anyone that threatened-in his own words- the pack, he murdered Holloway, and who even knows what he was planning to do to you after that." He didn't press her for a reply this time, and she didn't give one. Slowly her crying subsided, and the two sat in silence.

"Lets go." Leaven suggested in a hoarse voice, wiping her eyes. "I don't want to be in the room with _that_ any longer." She had suddenly found the door very fascinating. He shrugged and picked her up again.

"Huh." He said as he began making his way towards the door.

"What?" She asked after checking his face for any signs of discomfort.

"You're really light."

"Oh, really? I've been on this new diet, its called not eating."

"Hmm, maybe I should try that." She rolled her eyes and opened the door for them. He started to lay her down and froze.

"What is it?" She asked in a worried tone.

"How do we know the rooms safe?" She breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Well, we don't. You know, if you'd just left we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You know, if you'd just left me you wouldn't be in this mess."

"But you would." She said quietly, looking down at the numbers. Without Kazan, they were surely doomed. "Oh!" The blue-eyed girl gasped.

"What?"

"These numbers-we've been in that room before! So its safe."

"You're a freak of nature, you know that?" He said as he laid her in the passageway. She used her arms and slowly dragged herself through, him right behind her. She stopped at the exit and there was a long silence.

"Umm…how do I get down?"


	3. Chapter 3: New Faces

**Author's Note: Review or I will...do something unpleasant to you!**

"Umm…how do I get down?" Leaven asked, eying the distance to the floor and cringing at the thought of climbing down, which reminded her that cringing alone brought her pain.

"I got it." He said easily, smiling at her worried expression. He reached above her and grabbed the rungs of the ladders, then pulled himself over her and into the room. He slowly climbed down, not wanting to test his limits, then picked her up again. "Off we go."

The two traveled onward, both shocked at their luck of always finding rooms they'd been through before.

"You know, we were really lucky." Leaven said. David couldn't help but bark out a laugh. "No really, well not because we're here of course. But in the beginning, we went through so many rooms, and only one of us actually died because of a trap." The black haired girl got no response, and they continued on in silence.

"What's your name?" David suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Leaven murmured. His steady movements had been lulling her to sleep. She blinked up at him as she gradually regained her focus.

"Your-oh never mind, we're here."

"Where's here?" She asked, looking around. It was the same old green room she'd seen uncountable times before. Then voices drifted down from the room above and she knew they were below the other cube-ees. "Oh." The girl was about to ask how they were going to get up there when she was suddenly moving. David shifted her onto his back and placed her arms around his neck. He walked to the ladder and climbed nimbly to the roof's door and paused.

"Could you…?"

"Oh! Right." She reached with one hand and opened the door. Then he climbed up into a white room. Sharp pain erupted in his head and he fell over, taking Leaven down with him.

"Oh my goodness! I'm sorry!" A feminine voice shouted, bending down beside him. She had brown hair in a pixie-like style, short and sticking out in every direction. She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. Her jacket read her name to be Marigold. David sat up and looked at Leaven, who had curled up into a tense ball.

"You alright?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"Peachy." She replied through clenched teeth. A shriek came from beside him. He looked to see Marigold with her hands clasped to her mouth.

"My god, your covered in blood!" Worth looked down at himself, seeing a few specks of blood fresh on his makeshift covering. "Y-Your back!" She continued. He touched his back and looked at his hand, his fingertips were covered in blood. He looked anxiously back to Leaven, who wasn't moving. David checked her pulse, and was glad to find one.

"Can I have someone's jacket?" He asked to no one in particular. Marigold slipped off the over shirt and handed it to him. He ripped a sleeve and leaned over the girl to replace her bandages. He straightened up, and got a look at the room and its occupants. Aside from the woman beside him, there were three people standing on the other side of the room. There was a tall masculine man who had had a buzz cut at some point, and now his head was covered in blonde fuzz, Royce. Beside him was an equally tall man, but this one was thin and gangly. The thin man was brunette, his straight greasy hair hanging down to his chin, he had a messy goatee and his jacket said Mason. Seeing the final occupant he noted that Leaven wasn't the youngest anymore. A scrawny boy with brilliant green eyes and messy black hair stood against the wall, watching him with wide eyes, he looked no older than twelve. The boy was labeled Jefferson. Marigold stood and walked to the center of the room to close the gap between the newcomers and the males of her group.

"Well then," She began in a whimsical voice, "I'm Jodie Marigold. This," She gestured with her hand to the blonde, "is Randy," Her hand swept past the other two, "Smith, and Jefferson." The tall blonde, Randy, gave a curt nod and a grunt. The young one only slinked further away from the group. He inched to the opposite corner of Leaven and Worth and sat down, wrapping his arms around his legs. "Jefferson is our newest edition." Marigold said. "We found him two rooms ago, crumpled in a passageway. In the room it lead to-well we didn't look of course, but we saw blood on the wall." The woman looked to Worth for him to speak for his tattered group.

He thought this was all pointless and that they had more important things to do, but kept his thoughts to himself. Instead he announced: "I'm David Worth. My friend here is Leaven…" By the look on their faces they expected him to continue, "Uhh…in our group only a few of us actually got around to getting on a first name basis. Well…only Helen and myself really."

"There were more of you?" Jodie spoke again, "How big was your group?"

"Well; there was Leaven, the Wren, Holloway, Kazan, myself, and Quentin." He spat out the last word with such hate and malice that the brunette woman backed away a bit.

"I…take it you don't like this 'Quentin'?"

"Hah!" David answered in a bitter tone "Why of course I like that murderous perverted beast! It pained me ever so much to kill him!" He was edging towards hysteria, and he saw that in their worried eyes. The bloody man closed his eyes and breathed slowly. "Sorry." He finally spoke after a long silence. "I…" He sighed. "I didn't mean to blow up like that. Quentin…he did a lot of horrible things."

"Y-you" The squeaky voice caused him to open his eyes in confusion. Then he realized the green-eyed boy had talked for the first time. "You…you k-killed someone?" His voice rose an octave then broke as he asked the question, and his legs worked as if trying to push the boy further away through the wall.

"Heh. Look, you would've done it too kid. I was just trying to protect Kazan." The boy whimpered quietly. Suddenly his eyes clenched shut and he shoved his head into his legs, the thought of death bringing back images he didn't want to see again. He began quietly crying.

"So…" Jodie said, drawing the eyes back to her. "This Quentin was attacking Kazan?"

"Yeaaaaah." David's answer was broken off into an involuntary yawn.

"Oh my, you must be tired. Heck, we're all tired. Lets take a break and rest." She said before laying down, her example followed by Smith. The big one walked over to Worth. He looked up to see him holding his jacket to him.

"Thanks…Royce was it?" The man nodded as the shirt was exchanged, then held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, David." He spoke in a deep voice matching his appearance. Worth took his hand and they exchanged a hardy handshake. He slipped on the shirt and buttoned it up, then went to sleep with the rest of him. His last thought was of how he noticed how much he had changed since being taken here.


	4. Chapter 4: Will

**Author's Note: Oh darn it I forgot to name my characters after prisons. It completely slipped my mind. Darn it. Anyway, please review. Really, do. Feel free to insult me if you wish, anything will do.**

A quiet whimpering dragged Leaven out of sleep. Her eyes blinked open and stared at the white ceiling. _White?_ She thought, _but the room is r…oh yeah, we left the bridge. _Her memory returned to her as she continued to stare up at the ceiling. Another whimper reminded her of what had woken her. She sat up, managing to not cause any movement or strain on her torso, and looked around. Beside her lay Worth, fast asleep. He wore an oversized jacket now, it said 'Royce'. Also in the room were two tall men, one muscle bound, and a woman. Finally her eyes rested on the source of the noise, a boy. Her eyes widened. They'd lock a kid in here? Her anger flared up, quickening her breathe. She focused on slowing it before her chest could erupt. Slowly, very slowly, she inched her way across the room.

She stopped about a foot away from the boy, and leaned back against the wall, letting out a silent sigh of relief out through her teeth that she made it okay and that she didn't have to hold herself up anymore. The blue-eyed girl looked to the boy. He still hadn't moved from the position she'd first seen him in. If he had longer hair, he'd be the replica of her when she realized she'd eaten- her thought broke off and she shuddered.

"Hey there." She said quietly, putting on her best smile. Unfortunately it wasn't a good one, more of a sympathetic look than a friendly look. Jefferson finally moved, peeking out from his fortress to see who spoke, which he only did because he didn't recognize the voice. When he saw it was the girl who had come with the scary man, he lifted his head to get a good look at her.

"H-hi." He choked out, his voice hoarse from the crying bout. His eyes were red and tears still streamed down his face.

"This place is pretty scary, huh?"

"Y-yeah."

"You're pretty brave, coming all this way."

"No I'm not." The boy argued

"Hey, you did better than me. All I did when I woke up was scream for help." She gave another attempt at a smile, succeeding this time.

"B-b-but I co-couldn't help Rai-" his voice cut off as a new wave of tears came. She put her arm over his shoulders and he suddenly grabbed her in a tight hug, crying into her shoulder.

"Hey now, its not your fault. No once could've done anything for your friend." She choked out. He noticed her voice sounded weird and turned his head to look up at her. He was surprised to see she had was grimacing in pain. He quickly pulled back.

"Ahh, I-I'm sorry! I k-keep hurting people." His shoulders sagged and he looked at her through tear-blurred vision.

"Its not your fault." She assured him, trying to make her voice sound normal. Once she was sure she wouldn't accidentally scream when she tried to talk, Leaven began again as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Joan."

"W-William." He replied, placing a shaky hand forward. She shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Will." He crawled beside her, Leaven put her arm around him and pulled her to him and he laid his head on her shoulder. Time passed and he slowly calmed down, the tears finally stopped coming. He moved away to sit across from her and rubbed his eyes to clear them. Will looked at her chest, wondering why the remains of Jodie's jacket were tied to her. Then he noticed the entire front of her shirt was covered in dried blood.

"W-what happened?" He gasped, "So much blood…"

"Huh? Oh, my shirt?" She looked down at it, holding out the bottom with her hands to look at it for the first time. He nodded. "Well, a handle through the chest will do that to you." The girl stated simply.

"A-a what!?" She pointed loosely to the nearest door. "Oh wow. A-are you okay? I mean…"

"I'm fine, you should worry about yourself. Speaking of which, you look like you could use a good night's rest."

--

Worth came back to reality from a dream he'd never admit to having and sat up groggily. Near him Jodie lay sprawled out, snoring loudly. Royce was sitting up against a wall, sleeping with his arms crossed. Mason was the farthest from the group, sleeping curled up in the corner. Across from him Leaven sat against the wall, she was awake but her eyes were unfocused, she was probably daydreaming. The boy was sleeping, using her lap as a pillow. He moved over to them and sat beside her.

"Leaven? Hey, Leaven. Leaven! LEAVEN!"

"Wha-huh?" She shook her head then looked to him. "Oh, Worth."

"Did you know that you're deaf?"

"What d'you want Worth?"

"Un, what's all the ruckus?" A groggy voice called. They watched as Jodie picked herself up off the floor and joined them. "Why are you shouting?"

"Oh nothing, just trying to bring her back to Earth." Worth explained, pointing his thumb at the black haired girl. Jodie smiled at her.

"I don't think we've been officially introduced. I'm Jodie Marigold. I apologize for hitting your friend here on the head." Leaven laughed.

"Joan Leaven. And no need. According to Helen she got thrown across the room when she met Quentin and Worth."

"My, my! Your group has so much drama in it!"

"Our _old_ group." Worth corrected her.

"You're our group now." Leaven clarified.

"I suppose your right about that." Jodie mused, "Welcome aboard, then!"

"Aah!" The younger woman suddenly shouted.

"What is it?" Jodie asked, worried the girl had hurt herself.

"Worth, how much time has passed since we left the bridge?" She asked, ignoring the woman's question. The man's eyes widened.

"How much time do we have?" He asked, instinctively grabbing her shoulders.

"I-I don't know!" She answered in a shameful voice.

"What's going on?" Jodie asked, wide-eyed.

"Time for what?" The low voice of Mason, who had appeared out of nowhere, spoke, making Leaven and Jodie jump.

"To get the hell out of here." Worth answered.

"Uuuuuuhn…" A low moan escaped Jefferson's lips, who was woken up by Leaven's sudden movement.

"Oh, sorry Will." Leaven apologized as the boy's eyes fluttered open. He sat up and looked around at the people in the circle dazedly. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"What're you, his mother?" Smith sneered. Leaven made a face at him as Worth stood. He nudged Royce with his foot and the blonde's eyes shot open.

"We moving again?" He muttered, standing and dusting off his pants. Will, Jodie, and Mason stood, joining Randy in the center of the room. Worth motioned for Leaven to climb onto his back. She shook her head.

"I don't want to get you all bloody again, I'm getting better at moving anyway. I'll walk." David sighed, but before he could scold her a jacket was shoved in her face.

"Here…you can wear this." Smith Mason cooed, flashing her a toothy grin.

"Uhh…thanks." The girl put it on and buttoned it. After mounting her steed, he asked her where they needed to go. She said west.

"Don't you need to do the math?"

"I already know all the positions of the bridge. If we head west fast enough, we should run into it on the edge."

"Exactly how fast is fast enough?"

"We should be leaving now."


	5. Chapter 5: Alone Again

**Author's Note: Nothing much has happened, sorry about that. I'll try and add some action soon. Either this chapter or the next. As always: Please review! Pretty pwease with sugar on top? Seriously though, please do. I want to know what you think! Oh also: **_**Is**_** Leaven's first name Joan? I think I read that somewhere but now I don't remember… Also also, sorry if I'm rambling on with this, I didn't really have any plot in mind, I'm just kind of writing .**

"Ow!" Worth cringed as something slammed into his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry." Leaven replied in a dazed voice.

"What was that?"

"My head."

"Did you pass out?" He hadn't expected that to be the answer, but her lack of response made it apparent it was. "Did you sleep at all during our break?"

"I move around in my sleep, I didn't want to wake Will up."

"Who? Oh, the boy."

"Will you stop calling him 'the boy'?"

"Ow!"

"Sorry."

"Just go to sleep already." He felt her lay her head down on his shoulder and felt her breathing slow.

"AAH!" Worth heard a scream and felt Leaven's weight disappear. He flipped around to see Leaven half in the room and half outside the room and in the edge. David ran over and pulled her in, and with her came Will. She went limp in his arms and the black haired boy fell to the floor. "Th-th-th-the- I-it w-wasn't- n-n-nothing!"

"You didn't even look before you climbed through?" Worth asked, shocked despite himself.

"N-n-no, I was thinking-g." William muttered, trying to blink back tears.

"Oh my goodness! Are you alright?" Jodie fell to her knees beside the boy, patting his back. Meanwhile Worth was gently setting Leaven down in a corner. Jefferson immediately crawled over to her, and the architect was surprised to see Marigold shoot Leaven a glare.

"So…" The brunette began, "where's this 'bridge'? Or were you wrong all along?" The woman directed the last question at Leaven.

"The bridge exists." Worth answered solidly, "We just came from it to rescue you." Jodie snorted.

"Rescue? Which group here is covered in wounds?"

"Joan only has one." Will muttered.

"Oh, you don't want us around?" Worth retorted, the two arguing ignoring the boy.

"I didn't say that, its just…you haven't exactly helped us."

"Haven't- do you know how to check for motion traps? Do you know how to stay hydrated? How to know if a room is safe, or where they are? I didn't think so. C'mon Leaven, lets get back to the bridge."

"Wait." Marigold lifted a hand to stop him. "I-I'm sorry…I'm just a little high strung, what with all this." She raised her arms then let them fall to her sides.

"Alright, lets everybody calm down. We need to look for practical solutions." Randy said with authority.

"Are you a cop?" Leaven questioned.

"No. Why?"

"No reason."

"We're all goanna die in here." Jefferson whimpered quietly.

"No we're not." Joan replied, "We'll be fine. I know for a fact there's an exit, I've seen it, so has Worth. We just need to do the math." She sighed. "Where's a retarded genius when you need one?"

"A…what? Retarded genius? That's a weird combination." Jodie commented.

"Most of our group was. The pessimistic hero, the retarded genius, the killer cop."

"Who's the pessimistic hero?" Worth asked.

"You." She stated as if it were obvious. He laughed.

"Me? A hero?" He mused.

"Yes! You saved me at _least_ twice, and Kazan, too."

"Well then, what are you?" The brunette woman interrupted.

"I don't know…what am I, Worth?"

"The idiotic math whiz. Speaking of math, don't you need to find out where we need to go?" Time passed in silence, the only sounds being made were of Leaven's button.

"That's…three right?" A manly voice asked.

"Four, actually…huh.?" Leaven looked up from her work to see Royce.

"Oh your right, I see. Ha-ha, sometimes I get the X axis and Y axis mixed up when I rush."

"You understand this? Huh, I kind of took you for…umm…"

"A muscle-bound idiot?"

"Heh, yeah." He smiled at her.

"Yeah I get that a lot. Hey, why don't you take a break? Go on, I'll take care of it." The suggestion was more of an order, for as he said that he pulled the button out of her hand and bent over her work. The blue eyed girl scooted off into a corner and leaned her head back, closing her eyes.

"Joan?" William asked.

"Hmm?" She offered without moving.

"Why'd the Quentin guy attack you and Worth?" She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I don't know…he thought Worth was a double crosser or spy or something…and maybe I was a double crosser too because I sided with him? Well, he was insane, he probably didn't have a reason."

"Now is that any way to talk about your leader?" An all-too-familiar voice cooed from above them. Leaven looked up to see Quentin standing, his missing leg replaced by a bulky metal one. Behind him were the dead bodies of Royce, Marigold, and Mason.

"B-but, your-your dead!"

"Now what made you think that?"

"Your leg was ripped off…you would've died of blood loss!"

"Not if the workers of the cube gave you medical attention and replaced your leg with an artificial one so you could finish off the backstabbers." He lifted his fist, which was wrapped around a knife. "Bye bye, kiddy." He swung it down at Jefferson.

"No!" Leaven jumped over the boy, closing her eyes and waiting for death. Instead she smacked into the floor. She opened her eyes to see Worth staring at her. "…what?"

"What d'you mean 'what'? You just shouted 'No!' out of no where and fell over. I should be the one asking what."

"Sorry…oh! Royce, did you fi- …where're the others?" The girl just noticed they were the only two in the room.

"I…don't know. I fell asleep and when I woke up they were gone."

"…was my dream not a dream?"

"Huh? What dream?"

"Oh, I had a dream where Quentin came back with a robotic leg and killed Jodie, Royce, and Mason."

"Last time I checked Quentin was dead."

"How do you know?"

"This is ridicules Leaven, we both-"

"How?"

"I heard him scream as he fell."

"Those could've been screams of pain."

"Just trust me, okay?" The girl began to reply, but a blood curdling scream interrupted them.


	6. Chapter 6: Missing

**Author's Note: Once again- Review! Also, sorry for the big gap of time between this chapter and the last one, my life is demanding. And on top of that this chapter is pretty short. Ah, I'm a terrible writer. Gomen, gomen.**

**Llanea: Thanks for the reviews! I would gladly accept you as my beta reader, but I still don't know how to use the system . Angela does sound good, *smacks self* I never thought of just picking a name for her. **

"That was Jodie!" Leaven gasped as the scream echoed a few times before fading away.

"Finally!" Worth exclaimed.

"Worth!"

"Kidding, kidding." He assured as he scooped her up and they set off in the direction of the scream, blocking the joking punch from the younger girl.

"Wait." Leaven suddenly spoke in a worried tone.

"What?"

"We haven't been in this room before."

"Well we don't have Kazan, we'll just have to chance it." Worth decided and started going through. Leaven ripped a button off her jacket and threw it in the room, moments later rotating blades shattered it. Worth gaped at the remains as they clinked to the floor.

"Still want to chance it?" The girl asked with a grin. After a short detour, they were on there way again. In only a few minutes of travel they ran into the group. Will was in the corner of the room, curled up in a ball and sobbing. Mason was sitting against a wall with a bored expression on his face. And Jodie was standing, staring wide-eyed at nothing. "What happened? Where's Royce?" Mason jerked his thumb at the door near him.

"Right in there. Well most of him, some of him splattered in the tunnel. Care to join him?" He said in an uninterested voice. Worth set Leaven down as Jodie blinked back into reality.

"He cared so much about his numbers that he didn't think to…" She muttered.

"Why didn't you boot it?" Worth asked.

"B-boot..? What are you talking about? Oh David!" She threw herself into his arms and continued, "I'm so sorry we left you." Worth started talking with her about survival techniques, after pushing her off, such as smelling the air, booting rooms, and button sucking. Meanwhile Leaven crawled over to Will and hugged the crying boy to her, quietly telling him words of comfort while he cried. Eventually he fell asleep and she moved away so she wouldn't wake him.

"Hey." She jumped at the voice, the girl hadn't noticed Mason come up beside her.

"H-hi." The blacked haired student replied.

"What're you doing?"

"Uhh…nothing."

"Why not?"

"There isn't much to do."

"That means there's something." He said, flashing her a toothy grin.

"What was Royce's conclusion?" He didn't say anything. "His conclusion? What'd he come too when he finished the math? …Are you goanna answer me? Hello?"

"Hey!" Worth suddenly called from across the room. "She asked you a question."

"Why yes, she did didn't she?"

"Are you going to answer her?"

"Hmm. I think not."

"Why?" Worth demanded through gritted teeth.

"I don't want too."

"Look, she has her whole life ahead of her, but only if she gets out of the cube. And so does everyone else. I don't know or care if you want to live or not, but you could at least help out the ones who do."

"Fine, fine…oh darn, I can't remember now." The two men continued fighting as Leaven began etching numbers into the metal.

"Guys…Guys! GUYS!" They all finally looked at her. "We have to move now! The bridge is almost to its starting position!"

"Where to?" Worth asked as he headed for her to pick her up.

"West three, then up one, and then straight north." David nodded as his arms wrapped around her, but after lifting her only an inch he fell backwards. "Worth!" The girl saw blood droplets forming on his jacket. "Your wound opened again."

"I'm fine." He assured, reaching for her.

"No." Leaven commanded in a child-like manor.

"I'm not just goanna leave you here."

"You can't carry me in that condition."

"So how did you expect to go? Fly?"

"Hey, no worries." Mason interrupted. "I'll carry her."

"W-what1?" Smith ignored Worth's outbursts and scooped Leaven up into his arms.

"You could ask first you know." Leaven hissed.

"Now is that any way to speak to your savior?" The man asked with raised eyebrows and mock sadness in his eyes.

"You are _not_ my savior. If anyone is my savior-" she pointed to Worth "-it would be him."

"Well, my dear, you pick em' poorly. That over there is damaged merchandise.

"That's fine, we're a matching set."

"And what do you intend to do if you break free?" She stopped pushing against him, which she had been doing since he grabbed her, but stayed tense. "Off we go!" The man said cheerily, and the group of four started off. They walked in silence. Three of them were thinking violent thoughts, and the remaining was wondering why Royce had fallen for the trap.

_Maybe there's more to the system then I thought. _Leaven thought nervously. She tried to recall the last time she had looked at her and his work, and went through many possibilities and combinations in her head, completely zoning out. The silent traveling continued, until finally the one at the head of the line, one David Worth, broke the silence.

"So north from here, right Leaven?" After a few seconds of silence he spun around, flustering the woman who had been behind him.

"W-what is it?" Jodie asked in a bewildered voice. Worth ignored her and scanned the room, then opened the door they had just come through and poked his head through, all to see nothing. He quickly climbed into the room and spun around, as if she would suddenly appear. Jodie entered the room behind him. "David! What's the matter already?" The man walked up to Jodie and looked her in the eyes, accusingly.

"Where is Leaven?"


	7. Chapter 7: Red

Author's Note: Without further ado here is chapter seven! I'm not going to try and throw out excuses as to the massive gap, as there really is no reason it would've taken this long. But the important thing is its here, regardless of when, hopefully. Thank you to lucy2350 and Ambie-Ambiguity for your comments, I doubt without them (and Llanea's) I would have continued with this. Also, Ambie-Ambiguity, if you read this, did you change your name from Decapitated-Animal-Cracker? Also a big thanks to llanea for agreeing to beta reading for me, its much appreciated, and helpful ^.^ But enough of that, your here for the story, not my ramblings.

* * *

Leaven's brow furrowed as she crunched numbers in her head. She almost had it, she knew it. There was one crucial error in Randy's work, and it was right in front of her. All she had to do was-

"Huh?" Leaven blinked. She realized she'd been transferred from Mason's arms to sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. The girl looked up to see Smith towering over her, a strange glint in his eyes. Her blue eyes looked around the green room they were in. "Where're the others?" She asked. Mason chuckled.

"Ditched em'! Its kind of sad, your precious hero didn't even notice." Smith answered, flashing his toothy grin down at her.

"Why?" Leaven wondered aloud, mostly in shock and slightly in annoyance. Didn't he realize they didn't have much time to reach the bridge?

"Do you realize how long its been?" Mason asked her. Leaven thought it strange for him to ask that, shouldn't she be the one to do so? But looking up at him again she realized he was talking about something completely different. The man had just finished pulling off his shirt, tossing it loosely across the room. He grinned and began to reach for her. Joan froze, what was she supposed to do? She couldn't run or fight him off like this. Suddenly a scream of rage filled the room and something flew through the air. Jefferson landed on Smith's back, gripping the front of his head and yanking it. Smith stumbled backwards, then cussed and reached behind him.  
The tall man stumbled around the room as William screamed and fought with him. Smith smiled as his hands finally gripped onto the boy's jacket. With a mighty heave he sent the boy over his head.

"Will!" Leaven shouted out in concern as his body slammed into the wall. Jefferson limply fell to the floor as the victor turned to his prize. He began walking across the room towards her.

"Now then-" He began, but just then something fell out of the opened door on the ceiling. Mason was dragged to the floor along with it.

"You fucking bastard!" Worth shouted as he got above the other man and thrust a fist into his face. He started a second punch, but Smith caught his fist. The two began tumbling around the floor, each struggling to be on top. Jodie watched on from the opening in the ceiling, her pointless shouting making her state of panic obvious. Suddenly Mason grabbed the chest of David fs jacket, stood, and pushed the man into the wall all in one foul swoop. Here the fight became rather one sided, the gangly man throwing punch after punch into Worth fs face and chest. It was about this time the crawling Leaven finally reached her destination.

"Worth!" She called out. This brought the dazed man back into focus, and seeing past Mason he quickly knew what he was supposed to do. He commanded his arms to lift, which they did, reluctantly, and shoved forward with all his might. His palms collided with the mason fs chest, and he stumbled backwards, finally falling through the hole in the center of the floor. Joan looked through the doorway to see Smith still on the floor below, a tiny pool of blood forming around the top of his head.

Will sat up, dazed and confused, to see Worth sliding down the wall, battered and bloody, and Leaven lying on the floor, pulling the door there shut. Suddenly he jerked forward as everything came back to him. He jumped up, looking in every direction, then relaxed. He walked over to Leaven and helped her the rest of the way to the wall.

gAre you okay? h He asked, his face worry stricken.

"Mm, yeah, I fm fine." She assured, struggling to keep her voice on a level tone. She pointed across the room, and he obediently looked in the direction, seeing Mason fs discarded shirt. Before he could ask, she spoke again. "Could you rip that into strips and take it to Worth?" Without skipping a beat the dark haired boy nodded and quickly flipped around to face the shirt, his feet noticeably taking him a few more than intended steps to the left. "Will? You okay?" Leaven asked tentatively, frowning at herself for having forgotten he was still a child, despite the situation he was in. The boy muttered something unintelligible, a slight blush glowing on his cheeks, before walking to the abandoned garment. He picked up the shirt and started walking to Worth, tearing it as he walked. Or, trying to anyway.

"Here, let me see it." Worth commanded putting his hand forward. William set it in his hand, and David set to work tearing it. When he was finished he applied a few strips to himself, meaning to use the rest to replace Leaven fs current ones.

"Worth!" Leaven shouted out for the second time.

"What?" The man responded.

"We fve got to move. Now! The bridge is about ready to make its last rotation." Leaven informed urgently. Worth wasted no time, jumping up and scooping the second youngest of them into his arms. After getting the directions from Leaven, he started for the door to his left. "Wait."

"What?" He asked again, now a bit exasperated.

"Where's Jodie?" Leaven said, simultaneously asking and answering.

"Marigold? Isn ft she-ah where fd she go?" Worth looked around, expecting to see her face in a doorway. "Jodie!" He shouted, trying to get her to appear. David sighed. "Oh well, we fll have to go on without her."

"We can't just leave her!" Leaven and Jefferson said, almost in unison.

"We have to, or we'll all die." Worth informed simply, already moving. They worked their way through rooms at Leaven's direction, making good time considering over half their party was wounded. "Which way?" Worth asked again for the umpteenth time.

"Left." Was the answer. William walked over and opened the door, then screamed and stumbled backwards, tripping on the door on the floor and falling. They had found Jodie. They moved on, managing to not waste to much time calming him down. And finally, there it was, Worth couldn ft believe his eyes, the bridge. The young boy knew this room was it, it had to be, there were only two doors. They clambered into the red chamber; Worth setting down Leaven then taking a seat himself. Jefferson silently sat down beside the girl of the group, and they waited. Soon the room was shaking, and they were off. When the quakes stopped, a wide-eyed William stood and walked across the room. He gripped the handle and spun it, and the door came down on its tracks to reveal a blinding white light.

"Kind of anti-climactic once you fve already seen it." Worth noted aloud. The dark haired child turned to them, and Leaven nodded, motioning for him to go through. Hesitantly, he crawled through the opening and into the light. He hovered on the other side, his anxious face a constant image along with the white.

"Go." Leaven ordered, looking at David in an accusing way. The man stood and moved to pick her up, but she shook her head. "You first." He sighed.

"I'm not goanna stay, Leaven." Worth assured. It was about this time Leaven fs hair was firmly gripped at the scalp, and her head thrown into a wall. She fell to the ground, motionless. David shouted as he lunged at Mason, throwing a fist. William scrambled back into the room and dashed for the two brawlers, but was quickly thrown away by Smith fs sweeping arm. Now Leaven was lifting herself up a few inches, her eyes dazed and blood running down her face, forming a small puddle beneath her as it dripped off her chin.

Jefferson grabbed her and helped her across the room, then through the opening. Mason bellowed in rage, which brought the girl back to her senses, some of them anyway.

Leaven turned to the opening and saw this: Smith Mason not far away, reaching out as if to grab her through the air. Worth latched onto him from behind, his mouth acting as if it were screaming the word 'go'. A blurred vision of the room beginning to lower. A very blurred image of the floor rapidly approaching her. Black.

* * *

Edit: Well, that was odd. Had some malfunctions in the uploading. "Hey." would appear as gHey h. and I can't would appear as I can ft. And 'go' as ego f. Strange, ne? No more using Notepad for me.


	8. Chapter 8: Morning

Author's Note: And another chapter is born! Well, it was born two weeks ago. I sent it to Llanea but got no reply, so I guess she changed her email, so this hasn't been beta-read. And wow, I almost put readed. Anyway, as always, this is terribly terribly far apart from the others, and as always, sorry about that. But on another note, this chapter is a lot less actiony(if you would call he previous ones actiony) and has a lot of pointless little details. I'm kind of worried about this, but with no one to get advice from I decided to just leave it in.

* * *

A dull beeping slowly penetrated Leaven's levels of sub consciousness, gradually growing to an obnoxious annoyance that finally brought her groggily back to reality. Her eyes fluttered half open and she stared blankly at white. The beeping ensued, and she threw her arm mechanically to the left. Her hand hit the button to silence the siren as it had known how to for so many years. Now her gears slowly began turning again, and her eyes opened fully.

She sat up with a jerk, wide eyed. Her next move was to clutch her chest, which stung with pain. She ignored it and looked around the room. The walls were a stark white, and there was only one door in this room, a dark red mahogany number on the opposite side of the room. The left wall was lined end-to-end with modern metal and glass bookshelves, each filled with volumes of books both thick and thin. On the other side was a matching modern desk, atop which sat a computer and various accessories. Pulled up to the desk was a black computer chair. Also on the wall was a more comfortable looking black arm chair, accompanied by a lamp.

Her thought process was still not fully awake, and she slowly registered these facts: Worth wasn't here. She knew this room. Will wasn't here. She'd known it for a long time. Her chest hurt. It was her room. Smith wasn't here. She was in her home. After these thoughts her brain finally awoke, and she realized she was out of the cube, returned to her house as if it were some average morning. She reached to the metal and glass bed stand, and found her glasses to be where they always had. She slipped them on, and saw they were perfect. Well, not perfect, but free of any blood or smudges, and the lenses were intact. She looked down at herself, and saw she was in her silken off-white pajamas.

Everything was in order. If it weren't for the pain in her chest, she might believe it had all been one heck of a dream. But that was just it, her chest hurt. As in, it didn't feel like it was being ripped apart by some blinding force. How long ago had she passed out? She gingerly felt her head, and found a small bump on the left side of her head, which was slightly tender.

With the knowledge time had passed the sense of urgency in her drained away, and she slowly got out from under her off-white sheets and the thick quilt wrapped around her waist, her feet finding the cold wooden floor. After the initial shock, she felt around for her off-white slippers and slipped her feet into them. Now she stood, and the needles in her chest protested the action, commanding her to fall to the ground in pain.

She didn't listen, and instead thought in a melancholic way that her chest was much better now. She still didn't plan on doing any marathon's though. Her feet carried her across the floor, and she stiffly opened the door. Upon seeing the familiar hallway she relaxed, not really sure what she was expecting in the first place. She shuffled across the mantel and looked around, assuring herself she was indeed in her home sweet home.

To her left was a long white wall with two doors, the master and guest bedroom. Across from her at the end of the wooden-floored hallway was a fourth door, the upstairs bedroom. The final side of the hallway was home to an elegant black metal railing. Directly to her right was a modern metal staircase that would take her to the first floor. The whole thing was gently lit by the morning light pouring in from the high windows all the way to her right, a wall which also held the front door. A very familiar scene, this was definitely her house.

She shut her door and walked down the hallway, passing the first door and stopping at the second. Here she tensed up again, and after a nervous pause turned the knob and let the door swing open. A scene of a darker room, dimly lit by some light filtering through below the end of the curtains and the light coming from the doorway. Leaven's eyes slowly rose up her silhouette cast across the floor to the foot of the bed before finally landing on their target.

Two motionless bodies lay, mostly devoured by blankets. Their faces were unidentifiable, murky shadows in the insufficient light. Then one body turned onto its side, a feminine sigh escaping its lips. Leaven gave a sigh of her own, the air she'd been holding in her lungs going free. That sigh told her the two things she wanted to know: Those were indeed her parents, and, they were alive and well. She took a look at their bed stand, seeing the time was seven-oh-three a.m. Her father would be waking up in twenty-seven minutes, leaving the house at precisely seven-fifty-seven a.m. to make the forty-two-and-a-half minute commute to work. Then would waste the day away until twelve-oh-two p.m. when he would go on lunch break, returning at twelve-forty-three to continue his day until seven-thirty-six p.m. Here he would return home at eight-thirteen p.m., and retire to his office on the first floor and work into the late hours of the night, leaving only to get a snack.

Her mother would stay in bed until ten. After getting up she would begin her ritual morning cleaning, a pretty thorough cleaning of every room in the house. She would then make herself a light lunch, probably involving a salad and something steamed. Afterwards she would continue planning her next event, depending on how much time had passed that would either be her Sunday book club or that party she was having. Afterwards she would go out into town for shopping and talking to her prissy book club friends. Upon returning home she would start dinner, then relax for a half-hour or so with a book. Then she would finish dinner and serve the meal of two (Mr. Leaven didn't eat with the family), which will undoubtedly be some elegant five-star restaurant meal she read about in one of her magazines. Joan wished she would just cook spaghetti once in a while. After dinner her evening cleaning would commence, starting with the dishes. This being the 'real' cleaning, she would make every room spotless, not that it had time to get dirty in the first place. After some more reading she would retire to the bedroom, where she would fall asleep alone, to be joined by her husband some hours later.

Leaven closed the door and headed downstairs. The stairwell emptied her into the entrance hall, dark-carpeted room with two bare doorways and one wooden door which held the bathroom, placed under the stairs. One doorway would head into the living room, featuring more modern furniture and a matching carpet. From there was were glass sliding doors that empty into the backyard, a maze of hedge work, elegant yard furniture, stone walkways, and garden. There was also a dark wooden door, a forbidden door that led to her father's office. The office was relatively small, walled in on all sides with bookcases, and in the center his massive desk and computer. There was a door in the office that also emptied into the bathroom. The final exit from the living room was another empty doorway that lead to the dining room, also adorned in the royal blue carpeting. Here was yet another empty doorway, leading into the kitchen. In the kitchen was a stairwell to the basement, hidden behind a wall and a door. And one final empty doorway, which is one and the same with the last doorway of the entry hall.

The dark haired girl took to the kitchen, though not for food. She walked up to the calendar, laden with events her mother was hosting or going to, and checked the date. It was a Thursday, and by her memory her little adventure began two weeks ago. This relieved her in some ways and worried her in others. Her primary thought was that this was proof. People don't just sleep for two weeks. Following close behind was a worry, a worry for Will and Worth which had always been at the back of her mind but was now in full bloom with the confirmation of the Cube's existence. Then of course there was the matter of her friends and family.

She was almost swept with relief at the simple thought of 'its finally over'. But it was quickly taken away, because she knew it wasn't. A short-term plan was made. She headed upstairs and readied for school, dressing and grabbing her things. Then she returned downstairs and headed out the front door. She got in her compact white car and pulled the key out of her backpack. She would go to college like any other day, act normal and follow the rules of society. And after, well, that was another story.

* * *

Another Author's Note: I'm pretty sure I didn't put in any feeling of relief, or anything about finally seeing sunlight or the outdoors. I apologize for that, bad writing on my part. I don't want to add any in though, because I want to post this as soon as possible. Not like I have a mass of awaiting fans or I'm on a deadline, but I still do.

Also if Llanea, Amburger, or Lucy read this chapter; I apologize again for the massive overdue-ness of this. And also I thank you for getting this far.


End file.
